Dogmersfield House

Description

House constructed in 1728 with alterations of 1740. It is thought to be constructed on the site of an earlier house a medieval palace of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. A dovecote within the grounds may be relate to an earlier house. (PastScape)

Jocelin, Bishop of Bath and Wells (1206–44), obtained a confirmation of his right to the manor from King John in 1207, and the successive Bishops of Bath and Wells retained possession until the reign of Henry VIII, when the manor was sold to the king. Henry appointed Sir John Wallop keeper of the manor and park in 1540–1, and the following year leased the demesne land to Oliver Wallop, brother of Sir John, for twenty-one years. The manor was granted to Thomas, Lord Wriothesley, first Earl of Southampton, in 1547, by Edward VI.
Dogmersfield Park was made in the reign of Henry II, when licence was given to Reginald Fitz Jocelin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, to impark his wood, and in 1228 leave was obtained by his successor Jocelin (1206–44) to increase it by 7 acres of pasture, deer leaps being granted to him in 1227 and 1229.
The park was further enlarged by 3 acres which were inclosed 'with a dike and a hedge' by Bishop Jocelin, and in 1276 the stock of Bishop Robert (1275–93) was increased by a royal gift of '20 live does and brockets ' taken from the royal park of Odiham. There have been no deer in the park for many years. In the 16th century the keeper of the park received a salary of £12 a year. The park contains two pieces of water at the present day, Tundry Pond and Dogmersfield Lake; of these one may possibly represent the fishpond granted to Bishop Jocelin in 1205 before the inclosure of the park. (VCH)

Comments

Henry VI often stayed there, and it was where Catherine of Aragon met Henry VII and her future husband Prince Arthur. This suggests this was a large episcopal palace, capable of housing a royal retinue which could number hundreds. Within a deer park, dating back to the C12, and just to the west of the, now lost, village of Dogmersfield who's medieval parish church was probably demolished in the early C19. There are also early C13 records of fishponds of which Tundry Pond may be a much altered remnant. The lack of evidence of earlier buildings suggests the current house site directly on the site of the bishops palace, an attached office block built in the 1980's was built without archaeological investigation. Now a luxury hotel providing recreational activities such as horse riding and shooting which show a continuity of use with the medieval house and park.